After two days of deliberations, the Gaming Commission is due to decide today which conditions to place on the Greater Boston casino license, and City Hall, which pulled out of negotiations with Wynn Resorts weeks ago, could end up with no more than what Wynn had offered to mitigate the impact of the casino it wants to build in Everett — and only a fraction of what it would cost to fix Sullivan Square.
Conditions recommended yesterday by Commissioner Gayle Cameron incorporate elements of Wynn’s “best and final offer” to Boston, including a $750,000 upfront payment and $1 million annual payments for public safety; good faith efforts to buy at least $15 million in goods and services from local businesses; and a $250,000 upfront payment and $1 million annually for traffic improvements.
Cameron also recommended that Wynn pay 10 percent of the cost of a long-term solution to traffic congestion in Sullivan Square, provided that it’s designed to accommodate casino traffic.
The 10 percent is the projected amount of traffic from the casino during the Friday peak hour, and would be capped at $20 million — about one-fifth the estimated cost of improving the square.
Wynn also would have to pay $20,000 annually for each vehicle trip it adds to the approved peak-hour traffic estimates for Sullivan Square.
Wynn could ask the commission to return any unused funds if Boston does not begin its long-term solution for Sullivan Square within 10 years of the casino opening.
Mohegan Sun, which is competing for the same license with plans to build a casino on the Revere side of Suffolk Downs, “offered (Boston) more generous payments,” to the tune of $30 million upfront and an annual minimum of $18 million, Cameron noted.
“But there was significant opposition in East Boston,” she said. “Wynn … took a more measured approach,” leading Mayor Martin J. Walsh to pull out of negotiations and refuse to take part in arbitration, leaving it up to the Gaming Commission to decide how much — if anything — the city would get in mitigation.
Overall, the commission rated Wynn better than Mohegan Sun in three of five categories: finance, economic development and general overview; Mohegan Sun scored higher in building and site design and mitigation.
Wynn would have 4,382 employees at its casino, Commissioner Bruce Stebbins said, and Mohegan Sun would have 3,172.
I. Nelson Rose, a gambling law expert at Whittier College, said, “It often comes down to who’s willing to spend the most, produce the most tax revenue and create the most jobs,” he said. “Issues like mitigation are important, but they’re not as important as economic development.”